Intrepid Woman

A teenager on a Maryland farm when World War II began, Betty Lussier went to England to help the British fight off an impending invasion. Armed with a private pilot’s license, she joined the Air Transport Auxiliary and was soon ferrying planes and pilots for the RAF. Fueled less by politics and more by innate talent, Lussier boldly crossed gender lines throughout her life - first as a pilot, then as a World War II spy and later as a farmer in Morocco.

After the Normandy invasion, when women pilots were barred from flying and delivering planes to the combat zones on the continent, she promptly resigned.“I loved flying so much I would have stayed, but I really wanted to do what the men were doing.” She joined a counter-intelligence branch of the Office of Strategic Services. Her experiences with a special liaison unit in Algeria, Sicily, Italy, and France, helping to set up a chain of double agents and transmit misinformation to the enemy are described for the first time as she takes the reader step-by-step through some memorable cases that helped bring the war to an end.

Also amongst these chapters of daring, she found time to marry a Spaniard, raise four boys, live in Madrid, with Ava Gardner as her friend and neigbour, with Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly among the guests she entertained. All this and more is finally brought to life by one of the most formidable women in history.

About the Author
Betty Lussier learned to fly in a civilian pilot training program at the University of Maryland. After the war, she set up income-generating projects for women in Africa. She lives in CA, USA.